A couple weeks ago, I made a plea for surfers get in touch with me. I got some great feedback that will lead to some great upcoming sports sections.

Now, I want to hear from anyone that has any type of sports related story they think I should hear. I know there’s got to be a ton of interesting athletes in St. Johns County, and I want to learn about them. I want you to let me know what I’m missing.

I’m not a Boston sports fan, but I’m pulling with all my heart for the Red Sox to take out the Tigers in the ALCS. I’ll watch the World Series no matter what, but I won’t be sincerely entertained unless Boston advances. In no way do I want to continue watching the Tigers play, and I’m not sure what it is, but I’m rarely intrigued by anything going on with the National League. The last time I was truley enthralled with an NL World Series team was when Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson led the Diamondbacks pitching rotation in 2001. Lets go Red Sox.

Nobody cares about your feeble attempts to grab attention Dwayne Wade. Wade, who is rightfully overshadowed by LeBron on an everyday basis, will be giving fans an inside look at his journey towards his third championship ring on his website next week. Hopefully, this short film features a heavy dose of LeBron. But I’m guessing it’s just another attempt for Wade to get in the spotlight, and it will fail miserably. Nobody cares about the injured, worn down athlete that is fighting to remain in the conversation of the leagues top performers.

Football needs another John Madden, or at least needs to bring the living legend back for some type of analysis. It’s a shame that I had to double-check online to make sure I could, in fact, call him a “living” legend. Don’t worry folks, according to internet, he’s still breathing.

But as I sat and watched Sunday/Monday night football, I realized something was missing. It took me a few minutes, though, to figure out that the commentators nowadays are boring.

That wasn’t the case every time I watched a game with John Madden at the helm of the color commentary.

Beating the spread by 12 points should be viewed as an achievement, right?

Wrong.

There was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment by Jaguars fans after they were defeated by the Broncos by just 16 points, well below the 27.5 they were given by Las Vegas. This isn’t high school. These are professional athletes and grown men, and moral victories don’t count in the standings.

Shame on Kentucky high school sports. Yesterday, Kentucky’s athletic sanctioning body ordered high schools not to conduct postgame handshakes in all sports following more than two dozen physical confrontations the past three years. A postgame handshake is a universal code of good sportsmanship throughout sports of all ages. I can’t believe that it has come to this in Kentucky. I’d be ashamed to be part of any school that led to this ban. It is absurd that officials had to ban something so simple to congratulate your opponent for their effort.

For every single defense in the NFL, they have to enter every week knowing that every stipulation in the rule book that can be slanted is going towards the offense. And after Peyton Manning out-dueled Tony Romo (who finished with a scant 5 TDs and 500+ passing yards), what exactly can be down to fix it?

You won’t fool me this time, baseball. Not again — and certainly not when there’s football to be watched. Every year I get sucked into watching, sometimes even caring about playoff baseball.

Not this time. Without any team I particularly care for involved (what a way to spend that money, Angels!) and a full slate of college and pro games every weekend, I won’t be bamboozled into wasting my time methodically pacing through mind-numbing at-bats when I could be watching He-Men smash into foes wearing different colors on the next channel. It’s not fair to a certain extent.

Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson proved he is, without a doubt, the toughest man in football Sunday against the Saints. Kent Somer of the Arizona Republic reported that Johnson lost the top of his left middle finger while tackling Darren Sproles on a punt return.

Watching Mariano Rivera take what might be his last bow at Yankee Stadium was oddly comforting.

I’m sure it was as well for every hitter of those other 29 clubs, but seeing a player able to retire without any controversy is a luxury in this day and age. No player across any professional league is as liked or as seemingly infallible as the game’s best closer. No PED talk, no rampant issues off the field, just nearly two decades of dominance.

We may never see a closer like Rivera ever again. Frankly, asking for that would be too much.

I’m a huge Tiger Woods fan. That’s why this year has been such a great time to be watching golf. Well, until now. Tiger has done so good this year, that no matter what the outcome is in the Tour Championship, he’ll still be No. 1 in money won this season.